New International Version
Joshua 4:6
6to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
Joshua 4:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
- English Standard Version (ESV)that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?'
- New King James Version (NKJV)that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
- New Living Translation (NLT)We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
Context of Joshua 4:6
4So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” 8So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.
Read all of Joshua 4Joshua 4:6 word by word
לְמַ֗עַן תִּֽהְיֶ֛ה זֹ֥את א֖וֹת בְּקִרְבְּכֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יִשְׁאָל֨וּן בְּנֵיכֶ֤ם מָחָר֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר מָ֛ה הָאֲבָנִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לָכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Joshua 4:6
- Joshua 22:27On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’
- Exodus 12:14“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.
- Exodus 13:9This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.
- Exodus 31:13“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
- Numbers 16:38the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”
- Isaiah 55:13Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”
- Ezekiel 20:12Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.
- Joshua 4:21He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’
- Exodus 12:26And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’
- Exodus 13:14“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
- Deuteronomy 6:20In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?”
- Deuteronomy 11:19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Psalms 44:1We have heard it with our ears, O God; our ancestors have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.
- Psalms 71:18Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
- Psalms 78:3things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.
- Isaiah 38:19The living, the living—they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.
Commentaries on Joshua 4:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6This may be a sign - Stand as a continual memorial of this miraculous passage, and consequently a proof of their lasting obligation to God.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6Joshua told the Israelites two times to get ready to explain to future generations. The stone memorial would help teach them (4:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 6-76-7. That this may be a sign among you--The erection of cairns, or huge piles of stones, as monuments of remarkable incidents has been common among all people, especially in the early and rude periods of their history. They are the established means of perpetuating the memory of important transactions, especially among the nomadic people of the East. Although there be no inscription engraved on them, the history and object of such simple monuments are…Read the comment
Topics related to Joshua 4:6
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Joshua 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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